Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[dcwebman]

I just became a first time user of an iPod Nano so am totally a novice when it comes to MP3 players. I do have an MP3 player on my smartphone but only synced one time with it so this is pretty much new territory for me and a good test of MC 12.

I figured like probably any new iPod user that I better try iTunes first. I never really used iTunes much but eventually figured out how to load up my library. I checked the wrong boxes in the preferences though and suddenly it was converting my existing small library I had created before for my smartphone into AAC format. I thought they were MP3's but it turned out to be WMA's I had used so I guess I understand that except on the fly would have been preferred. I finally was able to sync some songs and listen to some songs on the Nano for the first time. They didn't show any cover art which was disappointing.

Before I left iTunes, I had to figure out how to copy a couple photos so I could see what they looked like. That was kind of weird buried in the menus but it worked.

Like I said, I hadn't used iTunes before so I'm sure there's probably things I missed. But for the life of me I still can't figure out what those checkboxes do next to the song names, and I looked in help, on the Apple website, etc.

Anyway, on to MC 12. I closed iTunes, opened up MC 12, and plugged in the Nano. Right away the detection was done. It showed the songs on the Nano and the photos I copied. I was able to play the songs which was nice but it couldn't display the images giving me an error that the path was probably wrong. Maybe if I had those images in MC's library it might have worked. The filename path was like \\Ipod:\0

Since the handheld part of MC is similar to the burning CD part which I use, it was pretty clear as to what was in the Queue to sync so I added some MP3 songs to sync. I also wanted to get a playlist on there so queued up one of my playlists. I did the sync and sure enough the playlist was there but all the previous ones were now gone. I must have missed something somewhere. But when playing the songs, I was very pleased to see cover art this time next to those songs I just synced. BTW, I store all my cover art in the external folder option, not the file itself.

I closed MC and opened iTunes to see what would happen. Plugged in the Nano and it displayed the new songs but for some reason, the name of my iPod had been changed from "Jeff's iPod" to "IPOD". I don't know how that happened. I renamed it back.

iTunes still had those previous playlists (actually smart lists) so I figured out how to copy them back. I ejected the iPod in iTunes but didn't unplug it. I started MC12 and the iPod didn't show up under Drives & Devices. Add Device on that menu didn't show anything. Then I clicked Handheld Player in the Action Wnidow and learned I could go find Redetect Devices to get it shown. Seems to me that Redetect Devices should be on the right-click menu under Drives & Devices. Anyway that didn't work either so I unplugged the iPod and plugged it back in.

I did one more sync back and forth to see if MC had changed the name of my iPod to IPOD but it worked fine this time. Go figure.

That's my experience so far. One comment is that I'm not sure why the name of my iPod didn't show up in MC like it did in iTunes but instead was a generic "Apple iPod". I had to rename the device to get it to display correctly.

But overall, there was no doubt that my experience with MC and my Nano was much better (probably because I know MC better), but I do think it was easier to use with the iPod than iTunes. It definitely will be the tool I'll be using. Great job!

[Deivit]

I just bought my first Ipod a couple of weeks ago while in NY (by the way, the Apple Store in 5th Ave. is worth a visit, but you'll find better prices down at J&R). It's a 60 GB white Ipod and this is my first handheld device 

Following the advice that I read somewhere in the forum a while back, I did not install iTunes at all. Instead, I just started MC 11.1 (in my laptop) with the Ipod plugged in. I transferred the whole library that I had carried with my in the laptop, around 1,000 songs.... and it was great to see them all in the Ipod playing perfectly with the cover art displaying. All my cover art is stored in the files themselves.

When I got home, I just plugged the Ipod in my main computer and started MC.12 It detected the device (changed the name that I have given to it in the laptop, though) and I got rid of all the songs. Selected a smartlist that I created for my Ipod, which I smartly named "Ipod smartlist"  , that contains all the 4 and 5 rated songs (around 7,500 circa 45 GB), synchronized the playlist and the songs were copied to the device in a few hours.

Just have a few questions that probably have an easy answer, related to what "synchronize" means:

- If a song of my main library changes from 3 to 4 stars, and thus it makes it to the "ipod smartlist", when I synchronize the device it will get copied to te ipod, right?

- If a song in my main library changes from 4 to 5 stars, and thus it still is in the "ipod smartlist" but with a different rating, when I synchronize the ipod will the one on the ipod change rating too? If I add lyrics to a song already in the smartlist (and in the ipod too), when I synchronize will the lyrics display in the ipod?

- If I change the rating of a song in the ipod from 4 to 5 stars... when I synchronize will the copy of it in my main library reflect that rating change?

I'm really happy with my Ipod... and I am even more happy to be able to manage it with Media Center without having to install iTunes at all.

Thank you.

[RobOK]

I did the sync and sure enough the playlist was there but all the previous ones were now gone. I must have missed something somewhere.
....

But when playing the songs, I was very pleased to see cover art this time next to those songs I just synced. BTW, I store all my cover art in the external folder option, not the file itself.

There is a synch option to leave things on the iPod even if they are no longer on your synch list.  By default it is off (otherwise your ipod will fill up over time with remnants of playlist changing).  I turn this ON as I usually have room to spare on the iPod.


Would be interested in what you learn about album covers not stored in the files.  I may get a newer iPod soon and store my covers outside of the mp3s.  Let me know.

[RobOK]

- If a song of my main library changes from 3 to 4 stars, and thus it makes it to the "ipod smartlist", when I synchronize the device it will get copied to te ipod, right?

- If a song in my main library changes from 4 to 5 stars, and thus it still is in the "ipod smartlist" but with a different rating, when I synchronize the ipod will the one on the ipod change rating too? If I add lyrics to a song already in the smartlist (and in the ipod too), when I synchronize will the lyrics display in the ipod?

- If I change the rating of a song in the ipod from 4 to 5 stars... when I synchronize will the copy of it in my main library reflect that rating change?

Yes, criteria are evaluated each synch.

Yes on ratings change.  I could not say on Lyrics, but I think yes.  I think it keys off last update date of song.  WARNING:  I have/had a large block of songs set as Read Only.  I would change tags, but the file would stay the same.  This sometimes gave unpredictable results, but also that was a long time ago and a very specific scenario.  In general, synching works the way you would expect.

Change rating on iPod -- most likely will get saved to MC Library (look for check box in synch options about getting data/statistics from iPod).  If file is played or changed in both places, I think MC wins.  So if you changed a genre on MC and a rating on iPod, the rating would not stick.  I am not 100% sure on that, someone else will have to validate.

Of course look in the iPod section of the forums for lots more.

[Deivit]

Thank you very much, RobOK. I'm gonna do some tests with the synchronizing but wanted to know first how is it supposed to work... and you gave me a great answer.

It's time to dig into the ipod's forum 

Thanks again.

[bob]

If you are going to use iTunes and MC you should disable iTunesHelper by using msconfig. This will prevent iTunes and MC from fighting over the device (iTunesHelper pops up iTunes when you plug in the iPod).

[RobOK]

If you are going to use iTunes and MC you should disable iTunesHelper by using msconfig. This will prevent iTunes and MC from fighting over the device (iTunesHelper pops up iTunes when you plug in the iPod).

A good idea, I think you can also disable from within iTunes itself.

More recently I have disabled iTunesHelper, but even before that I did not experience conflicts -- I think I had turned off iTunes option of automatically opening.

[park]

But for the life of me I still can't figure out what those checkboxes do next to the song names, and I looked in help, on the Apple website, etc.

Those boxes are to decide which files you want to put on the ipod I think.

[RobOK]

I did have a strange thing happen on my first iPod synch with MC 12.

* as reported elsewhere, my renaming of my iPod was lost.

*  When I connected and looked at options,  there was no checkbox for "leave files on device even if not in synch list" (paraphrased).  The Action area ONLY had "Drop Files Here", no links for Details or Options.  Like a generic dialog box.

 Then I disconnected and reconnected and that check box showed up and the Details and Options links showed up, like it recognized something new the second time that it had not the first.